Underframe structure for cars.



J. C. BARBER.

Patented May 11, 1915.

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THE Norems PETERS co., pHoro-urna., WASHINGTON. D. z:A

l. C. BARBER.

UNDERFRAME STRUCTURE FOR CARS.

' APPLICATION FlLED DEC.26, 1913. 19138,615. Patented May 11, '1915.

.r ww r m mm m y X1: n Mm. n uw, \\k Aw WNW, um] 11, w R e o --1 o @e THE MORRIS PETERS C04. PHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGTON. D. C.

J. C. BARBER.

UNDERFRAME STRUCTURE FOR CARS.

, APPLICATION FILED DEC.26, i913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented May 11, 915.

THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHoTc-LtTHa. WASHINGTON. DA C,

Lc. BARBER.

UNDERFRAME STRUCTURE FOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED DECJZG- 1913. n if; g Patented May 11, 1915.

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THE NORRIS PETERS CO.4 PHOTOALITHO. WASHINGTUN, D. C.

Joniv c. BARBER, or cniceeo,'ir.r.rivors- 'UNDERFRAME STRUCTURE FOB, CARS.

Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 26, 1913. Serial No. 868,679.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN C. BARBER, a

` citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and use- 'ful Improvements in Underframe Structure -ior Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makev and use the same.

My present invention relates generally to railway cars,` but is more particularly directed to the improvement of the underframe structure of freight carsof high carrying capacity.

Generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims. 'i

More speciiically stated, the present invention is designed, particularly, as an .improvement on the underframe structure of railway cars wherein the car body is supported from the trucks by four-point bearings located over or directly associated with the truck side frames, in contradistinction to that type of car body wherein; the weight of the load is transmitted through center bearings applied between the central portions of the truck and bo'dyvbolst'ers.

So far as the present vinvention is concerned, the so-called four-point bearings between the truck side yframes and the car body may take various forms, but in most instances they will be in the nature of lateral motion side bearings such as those disclosed and claimed in the patent to Lake and Deverell, 798,350, of date August 29, 1905, entitled Anti-friction bearing for cars, and in'niy own prior Patent, 875,565, of date December 31, 1907, entitled Car truck, and in several of my subsequent patents.

' As one of the chief features of novelty of the present invention, I provide a car body or platform with side sills that are located directly, or approximately, over the side frames of the car trucks, and between which and the side frames the anti-friction bearing device, preferably in the form of lateral motion side bearings, are interposed so that the weight of the load is transmitted from these side vsills directly downward to the truck side frame. |Ihis novel relative arrangement of the side sills, truck side frames Patented May ii, reis.

anti-friction bearing devices is disclosed and i broadly claimed in my U. S. Patent 1,031,-

163, issued of date July 2, 1912, and en-'J titled Improved car construction. Vl/Vith this improved construction, the heavycen ter sills, usually provided at or approximately at the center of the car, may beentirely dispensed with, and the truck holsters and body holsters become subordinate elements and are not relied upon to transmit the weight of the'load from the car body to the truck side frames, and, hence, in some 'instances may, possibly, be dispensed with.

Various other novel and important features of construction are involved in the present invention, all as will hereinafter be more fully disclosed.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters inviews.

`Referring to the drawings -Fig'ure 1 is a side elevation with some parts broken away, showing the improved underframe construction of the car Fig 9. is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1, some parts being removed and some parts being broken away; Fig. 3 isa transverse vertical section taken on the line x3 x3 of Figs. l and 2; Fig. l is a transverse section taken on the line m4 x4 of Figs. 1 and 2; Fig. 5 is a front end elevation of the underframe structure; Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken approximately on the line m6 x6 of Fig. 2, some parts being removed and some parts being shown in full; Fig. 7 is a fragmentary detail in vertical section taken on the line m7 mi of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a fragmentary section taken longitudinally of the underframe structure'on the line w8 x8 of Fig. 7; and Fig. 9 is a side elevation with some parts broken away, showingy connections Vbetween the underframe structure and one of the car trucks. v The floor structure proper is preferably made of wood andthe stake pockets (when employed) are preferably cast, but all of the vother parts of the underframe structure are preferably of commercial steel, such as rolled steel plates, angle bars, channelbars, or I-beams. The main side sills or girders, which, as stated, are designed to be located over the truck side frames and may be constructed in various ways, are preferably made up of vertically disposed steel plates 1 and upper and lower 'pairs of` anel@ 3 respectively. The plates l f '7 5 dicate like parts throughout the several afI constitute the V`webs of the Amain rsills or lower edges of the respective web plates.l

By turning the flanges of the lower-angles 3 outward, increased wheel clearance is obtained. 'The central portions of the web plates 1 are much increased in vertical dimensions so yas to truss and very greatly strengthen the intermediate .portions of the main side sills.

The body bolsters, as preferably constructed, are made up each of .a pair ofvlatorally spaced channel-beams 4,' the Voutturnedtop flanges of which are rigidly connected large cover plat-es 5 riveted thereto. YThese cover plates increase in width toward the centers so las toincrease the strength of the intermediate portion of the bolster, and for otherreasons hereinafter noted. The bottom flanges of the fbolsterforming channels 4 are riveted to tie plates `G and to the flange of a central hub A7. lThis hub 7 is adapted to coperate wltha hub or .pivot member, not shown, but ywhich would be located on the` central portion of the truck bolster. This pivotal connection between the Abody land truck bolsters, however, carries no partof lthe load but simply serves lto hold or assists in holding the truck for proper radial movement in respect to the car body. The upper portions kof the body bolster channels 4 are cut away =at their ends so yas to leave the said channel `bars with reduced end portions 4a that project outward beyond kthe main side sills and serve to support supplemental sills 8. These supplemental sills 8 are preferably in the forni of channels with inturned flanges, :the lower flanges .thereof being riveted to joint channels 9, which, in turn, .are riveted to the said end portions la. :The supplemental sills 8 are preferably extended the full length of the car body'and their upper flanges are raised substantially to the underside of the floor 10, rivet Ihead clearance only being left. The .steel cover or connecting 4plate 11 extends the full length of the .tops ofthe main and supplemental side sills and kis riveted to the upper flanges thereof sothat the two sills become practically one member. At Vsuitable points longitudinally of the car, the fside sills are .further connected or tied together yby transverse cross bea-ms, best shown in Figs. 3 and 6. Each of these cross beams is shown as made upofanupper and a lower channel 12 and 13, both of which l are shown as directly riveted vto vertical Joint angles 14, which, 1n turn, are riveted side msills.

tothe web plates and `angles of the main rlhe channels 12 terminate between the web plates of the two side sills, while the lower channels 13 are extended through the said web plates, and their projecting ends are rigidly secured to the lower flanges of the supplemental sills 8, preferably byrivets and by interposed gusset plates 15, to cross beams. The two cross beams l2aand 18a, which are directly inward .ofy the body bolsters, do not extend beyondthe inside of the main sills on account of the lesser depth of the latter at those points, but the extension is here provided in the Aform of built up brackets 1G that are rivetedto the web plates 1 and to the lower flanges of the supplemental sills Spas best shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

At the ends of the car, the main andsupplemental side sills are rigidly secured to and tiedtogether by transverse end sills 1:7, preferably made -up of channel bars and reinforcinglangle bars, ythe said parts being usually connected by rivets. The ends of the end sills 17 are rigidly connected 'to the ends of the supplemental side sills 8 by (see particularly Figs. 2

said body bolsters. At their outer ends, the

said draft sills are rigidly secured to the end sills 17 by 'gusset plates 20 (see Fig. 2)

and by angle strips 21 (see Fig. G). Also,

said draft sills, at their outer ends, are further connected to the said end sills by a casting or -brackets22 which serve as guides for a coupler draft bar 28 (see Figs. l and 2). Oblique braces 24E (see Fig. 2), preferably of channel form, are riveted at their ends to the top gusset plates 20 and lt-o the truck cover plates '5 of thebody bolsters, and further reinforce and stiffen the connection between the body'bolsters and end sills and the draft ysills and are effective under `both bumping and draft strains, and assist in transmitting such bumping and draftstrains from the coupler draft bar to the side sills.

At suitable intervals along each side of the underframe structure, metallic (preferably cast) stake pockets are secured to the outer sides of the supplemental sills 8. These stake pockets, at their upper extre1nities, terminate approximately flush with the top of the floor 10, and, at their outer faces, they terminate approximately flush with the outer edges of said floor, so that theyfcannot beengaged and torn off. These pockets 25, at their upper ends are shown as provided with inw-ardlyprojecting flanges 26 that rest upon and are riveted to the youter edges of the sill connecting plates 11, andalso to the upper flanges kof the 'segmental sills 8 (see particularly Figs. 2 and 3). At the front and rear sides (see particularly Figs. 1 and 3), the stake pockets 25 are formed with Y projecting flanges 27 that terminate in lower end brackets 28, which latter are shown as riveted to the supplemental sills 8. The said flanges 27 and brackets 2S cooperate with the adjacent outer faces of the supplemental sills 8, and formr pockets into which the ends of wooden stringers or Hoor nailing strips 29 are seated. These stringers 29 are also beams and on the intermediate portions of the end sills 17. t

As already stated, this improved car underframe structure may be supported from the truck side frames in different ways.

However, in Fig. 9, one of the trucks is shown as supporting the underframe structure through the intervention of lateral motion and radial or side bearing devices of the anti-friction or rollerftype, constructed and Y applied inthe manner disclosed and claimed in my U. S. Patent 1,014,362, issued of date January 9, 1912, and entitled Car truck. These parts may, therefore, be verykbriefly noted as follows The numeral 33 indicates y the truck wheels; the numeral 34 the truck side frames; the numeral 35 a spring-supported truck bolster; and the numeral 36 indicates, as an entirety, the combined lateral motion and radial motion roller bearing devices. For the further purposes of this case, it is only necessary to note that the roller caps or top members of the roller bearing devices 36 are engaged by and directly support laterally spaced bearing lugs 37 that are rigidly secured to the overlying main sills and the overlying portions of the body bolsters. These bearing lugs 37 (see Figs. 4 and 9) embrace the top arch bar of the truck frame 34 with sufficient clearance to permit desired lateral movement of the car body in respect to the other trucks.

Vith the above described construction, it will be noted that the load is transmitted from the car body or platform to the truck side frames directly through the side sills and that the customary center sills are dispensed with. The present railway service demands freight cars of enormously high carrying capacity and to meet this demand the underframe structure disclosed and claimed was designed for a safe carrying capacity of one hundred and fty thousand pounds. It has been found impracticable or inadvisable to design cars for such high carrying capacity on any plan which contemplates carrying the load through truck and body bolsters acting as trusses in which the load is transmitted therethroughiunder a leverage action tendingk to bend the same. But with the present design, cars may be designed for the above carrying capacity, and even for much greater carrying capacities because of the arrangement of the main side sills over the truck frames, whereby the load is transmitted directly to the truck frames at four different points. Also, the bumping kand draft strains transmitted through the coupler draft bars and draft sills are more evenly distributed throughout the car underframe structure than where center sills were employed.v Also, because of the improved manner of arranging the sills to transmit the load to the trucks, a maximum of strength is obtained with a minimum of metal, and, asis obvious, this results in the highest possible carrying capacity, strength, and durability at a minimum of cost.

What I claim is 1; A car underframe structure having main side sills located for application over the truck side frame, body bolsters rigidly secured to and connecting said side sills and having continuous end portions projecting beyond the same, and relatively shallowT supplemental side sills supported by the yprojecting ends of said body bolsters.,`

2. A car underframe structure having main side sills located for application over the truck side frames, body bolsters rigidly secured to and connecting said main side sills and having continuous end portionsV projecting beyond the same, relatively shallow supplemental side sills supported by the projected ends of said body bolsters,

and connecting plates secured to and tying together the upper portions of said main and supplemental sills.

3.1n a car underframe structure, the

combination with main side sills, of body bolsters and cross beams connecting said side sills and having continuous end portions projecting beyond the same, relatively shallow supplemental side sills supported by the projected ends of said body bolsters and cross beams, and cover plates rigidly connected to the upper portions of said main and supplemental side sills.

4. In a car underframe structure, thev combination with main side sills, of body bolsters and cross beams connecting said side sills and having continuous end portions projecting beyond the same, the tops of said body bolsters and cross beams being located below the tops of said side sills, relatively shallow supplemental side sills supported by the projected ends of said body bolster-s and cross beams, brackets secured to said supplemental sills, outside nailing strips mounted in said bracket, intermediate nailing strips carried on said body bolsters andcross beams, and a floor applied to said nailing strips.

5. In a car underframe structure, the combination with main side sills, of body bolsters and cross p beams connecting said side sills and having end portions projecting beyond the same, relatively shallow supplemental side sills supported by the projected ends of said body bolsters and cross beams, outside nailing strips secured to said supplemental sills, intermediate nailing strips carried on said body bolsters and cross beams, a floor applied to said nailing strips, and cover plates located immediately below said floor and rigidly secured to and tying together the upper portions of said main and supplemental sills.

6. A car underframe structure having side sills made up of vertical web plates and top and bottom angles, said top angles having their horizontal flanges turned in reverse directions and their lower flanges riveted to the upper edges of said web plates, and the said lower angles having their horizontal flanges both projecting outward and having their vertical flanges riveted to the lower edges of said web plates.

7. In a car underframe structure, the combination with side sills made up of vertical web plates and top and bottom reinforcing angles, of vertical oint angles riveted to the said web plates, and metallic cross ties riveted to said joint angles, and having continuous end portions that project through the said web plates.

S. In a car underframe structure, the combination with side sills made up of vertical web plates and top and bottom reinforcing angles, of vertical joint angles riveted to the said web plates, metallic cross ties Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing Washington, D. C.

riveted to said joint angles, and having end portions that project through said web plates, supplemental side sillssupported on the projecting' ends of said cross ties, and connecting plates between said top reinforcing angles and said supplemental side sills.

9. In a car u-nderframe structure, the combination with side sills marde up of vertieal web plates and top and bottom reinforcing angles, of vertical joint angles riveted to the said web plates, metallic cross ties riveted to said joint angles, and having continuousend portions that project through said web plates, the tops of said cross ties being located in a plane below the tops of said side sills, supplemental side sills supported on the projecting ends of said cross ties, and connecting plates between said reinforcing angles and said supplemental side sills.

10. In .a car underframe structure, the combination with side sills made up of vertical web plates and top and bottom reinforcing angles, of vertical joint angles riveted to the said web plates, metallic cross ties riveted to said joint angles, and having end portions that project through said web plates, the tops of said cross ties being `located in a plane below the tops of said side sills, upper and lower connecting plates secured to said `top reinforcing angles and the projecting ends of said cross ties, supplemental sills in the form of channels, having vtheir flanges turned inward and riveted to said top and bottom connecting plates, brackets secured to the webs of said supplemental sills, outside nailing strips mounted in said brackets, intermediate nailing strips carried on said cross ties, and a lioor applied to said nailing strips.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' JGHN C. BARBER. lVitnesses:

F. L. BARBER, MABEL G. LAW.

the Commissioner of Patents, 

